The human resources (HR) staff must address a number of important issues, including:

• Streamlining the internal and external recruitment process.
• Providing an easy-to-use, attractive way for employees to locate, access and understand employment and benefits information, policies and procedures.
• Making it easy for employees to enroll in various benefits and programs.
• Keeping employees informed about their company.

Traditionally, HR information has been distributed on paper making it difficult, time-consuming and expensive to keep current. With information changing continually, the HR department must produce and distribute bulky manuals and update them frequently. In some cases, information is obsolete even before employees receive it. In fact, information changes so frequently that many IS departments have been unable to deploy HR application systems on employee computers cost-effectively.

Employees find it difficult to juggle up-to-date benefits and policy manuals and to find the information they need and managing the constant barrage of updates is time-consuming. When employees have questions, they typically call HR instead of searching through the manuals. This means the HR staff spends valuable time answering routine, repetitive questions, such as, "Which options are available in the health plan?" and "What are the current share prices of the mutual funds in the 401k plan?"

Enrollment is also an issue. Once employees have made their choices, they must wade through tedious forms and deliver them to HR, where the HR staff manually sorts and re-enters the information in a data entry application. As a result, benefits enrollment periods are onerous to employees and require a tremendous effort on the part of HR personnel. During open enrollments, other essential tasks are often put on hold while the HR staff contacts employees and updates data.

The Intranet Solution

An Intranet creates a single, secure repository for all confidential HR information and processes. It can provide an easy-to-navigate environment that is accessible by all employees, regardless of where they are located or which computing platform they are using. Access rights for each employee are established by HR and are typically determined by the level of management of the employee and the department they are in or their key job functions. The HR staff maintains information online, so updates are fast, straightforward and easy to manage. Employees have immediate access to the latest information. Employees use a simple browser interface to find what they need, so they spend less time searching and can focus on precisely the information they need. They aren't overwhelmed by cumbersome manuals, and they save time because they don't have to wade through pages of irrelevant information. To make things even more efficient, employees can enter data online. This data can be automatically integrated into back-end information systems, so it can be validated on input, eliminating errors. In addition, the HR staff does not have to re-enter employee data, freeing up time for other more important tasks.

Human Resources Applications

Application	Advantages
Employee handbook Publish personnel guidelines and policies.	Saves the cost of printing, distributing and updating handbooks. Employees have fast access to the most recent policies and procedures.
Telephone directory Publish employee contact information with phone number, e-mail address, title and department.	Online search helps people find information faster. Online contact information is always up-to-date. Operators get fewer calls asking for phone numbers.
Benefits information Employees review personal benefit information and enroll in health and other plans online-selecting the options that they prefer.	Employees have quick answers to benefit information. HR staff spends less time answering routine questions and enrolling employees in benefit programs. Electronic enrollment reduces data entry errors.
401k center Employees review retirement account information online, including investment options, investment performance histories and current rates. They can enroll online in the options they choose.	Increases productivity of HR staff because it eliminates the time required to answer routine and repetitive questions. Gives employees the information they need to make better-informed decisions.
Employee surveys Use e-mail and/or internal Web site to solicit employee feedback on a variety of subjects.	Provides valuable source of ideas. Facilitates tracking of problems and process improvements. Provides rich source of historical data to guide decision-making.
Internal recruiting Post job openings, internal educational opportunities and career development information on Intranet Web site.	Distribution of information is faster than is possible with bulletin boards and memos. Helps retain current employees and promote internal growth.
External recruiting Post job openings, internal educational opportunities and career development information on the public Internet site.	Wide dissemination of information, ensuring large selection of candidates. Fast online response shortens recruiting cycle.
Candidate screening Develop a screening application to analyze resumes automatically for suitability based on key qualifications. The application could route resumes to the appropriate hiring managers and provide a vehicle for coordination between HR recruiters and hiring managers.	Speeds the processing and routing of resumes and helps ensure that hiring managers have the broadest selection of qualified candidates. Increases productivity of recruiters.
Organizational charts Provide up-to-date organizational charts and information.	Immediate access to dynamic organizational information.
Newsletters Publish corporate and departmental newsletters to communicate a wide variety of information, including recent corporate wins and successes.	Keep employees up-to-date on corporate activities and critical employee information.
Company calendar Post holidays and special events calendar.	Employees always know where to find this key information.
Employee classifieds Allow employees to publish personal classified ads.	Builds a sense of community among employees.